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paging file
This term is a technical specification within computing, specifically referring to the mechanism of virtual memory. It describes a physical file on a storage drive that acts as an overflow reservoir for the system's RAM. When the physical memory is exhausted, the operating system moves less active data to this file to free up space for immediate tasks.
In a practical sense, the term is most frequently encountered in system administration and troubleshooting contexts. A common performance issue occurs when the paging file is too small or fragmented, leading to "disk thrashing," where the system spends more time moving data between RAM and the disk than executing actual instructions.
Ý nghĩa
A reserved area on a hard disk drive used by an operating system to store data that cannot fit into the physical random-access memory (RAM), allowing the system to simulate additional memory through virtual memory management.
The system slowed down significantly because the paging file was nearly full.